Hi thanks for your detailed and insightful answer – yes Market Research is more relevant than ever today and the SaaS tools make it easier.

Your comment is worthy of a blog post, so I’d like to publish a slightly longer version of that – please get in touch via the Contact Us – if you’re interested in this.

We follow Steve Blank – 4 Steps to the Epiphany for researching products so was interested in your Prof. Aulet at MIT wrote a great book for startups called “Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup” that anyone thinking of creating a startup should find essential. There’s a great infographic on his site about the steps to research new propositions.

Thanks again, Dave

In regards to… “What could or would be a good value proposition for x product, or y service.
Instead of asking a marketing expert, the best people you should ask is your intended target market. (Make sure you know who your ideal customer/clients are… look at where the top 10-20% of your revenue is coming from, and then look at each to see which are most profitable and enjoyable to work with)… what is unique about them? Can you find more like them?

Thus, do you know who they are? Their approximate age, where they live, what their typical day is like? What their goals & struggles are? What life events have impacted them already and may be coming up?
Now.. why do THEY use your product/service? Have them prioritize the top 3 benefits they receive.

Regarding B2B… You need to know who your business client’s target market is, why? Because you can add more value to your business client by helping them add value to their customers/clients. Is faster delivery more important to their customers? Perhaps its the quality? Find where your strengths & capabilities and your client’s needs overlap & focus like crazy to Wow! them.

If you have multiple customer segments, take the components of what your company delivers and what each segment has identified as adding the most value and craft you value proposition statement from these specific to each target.

Of course, be sure you put in Key Performance Indicators (methods to track) to ensure you & your clients can see/quantify the impact your product/service is having.

Anyway, just a tip that some may find beneficial.

Addendum:
Start-ups that don’t have customers yet.. Determine who you think your market may be, (ensure it is large enough to support your business), and call/email to meet with the owners for an informational interview. Let them know your thinking of starting up a new company focusing on XYZ, and you are just needing to get with business experts in their industry to learn more about the marketplace and what they do, what they struggle with, what competitive advantages they have, etc. Just remember their time is very important, be organized, have your questions ready… rehearse/practice to ensure you know the questions so you don’t have to look at your sheet.

Prof. Aulet at MIT wrote a great book for startups called “Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup” that anyone thinking of creating a startup should find essential.

Hi Vicky, thanks for the question, don’t think it’s that tricky?

Aim of OVP:

* Showcase capabilities to audience

* Help audience select your services

* Generate leads

* Encourage sharing to boost above

So it’s content – but not just from you – curated – that showcases the marketing potential of video through blogs posts, whitepapers, enewsletter on industry development and of course creative + campaign ideas from Video examples.

Does that help?

Thanks Prashant, I’ll give that some thought and will do a follow-up post. Anyone know any?

That’s really helpful. Do you have any examples of websites with clear OVP in the B2B areas.

Thanks.